RICHMOND — When Joanne King opened her business in downtown Richmond in the 1950s, more than a dozen clothing stores peppered the area.

Now, Joanne’s Boutique is the only one that remains.

“I’m hoping for this town to come back, of course,” she says.

King may get her wish.

Richmond’s City Council has selected Oakland-based A.F. Evans as the master developer for Richmond’s downtown plaza.

The development will extend from 11th to 13th streets on Richmond’s main thoroughfare, Macdonald Avenue, five blocks from the Richmond BART station.

Oakland’s Fruitvale Village, which is 10 stops down the Richmond/Fremont BART line, will be one of the many redevelopment models Richmond looks at in developing downtown, says Muhammad Nadhiri, project manager for A.F. Evans.

“You want to look at their successes to see what we might learn from them,” Nadhiri says.

King does not expect new development to replicate old Richmond.

“We have to look toward the future,” she says. “I’m not old-fashioned.”

The decline began in the 1970s, according to the Richmond Arts and Culture Commission. Major retailers such as Macy’s and Woolworths closed their doors or moved elsewhere.

Today, old retail space lies vacant up and down Macdonald Avenue.

“People have a perception that the downtown is frightening and dangerous,” says Ramona Braxton-Samuels, executive director of the Richmond Main Street Initiative Inc. “When you see blight, people think that.”

Since 2001, Main Street has hosted street festivals and displayed murals by local schoolchildren on downtown buildings. Braxton-Samuels helped plan community meetings this summeron downtown redevelopment.

But some downtown businesses are wary of what the Macdonald redevelopment could mean for business and the character of the community in the downtown.

“I don’t know why the city of Richmond wants to sweep under the rug existing businesses that have been trying to keep the downtown a downtown,” says Michael Harvey, who operates Beauty Supplies for Your Attitude with his mother, Olidean.

Olidean Harvey has been a fixture in downtown for 18 years.

Harvey’s business is one of more than a dozen businesses and nonprofits that will need to be relocated during redevelopment.

City Councilwoman Gayle McLaughlin is supporting the rights of businesses to stay downtown.

“Minority-owned businesses have a history in downtown,” she says. “We have to encourage some of that history to prevail.”

Richmond’s Redevelopment Agency says it will work with the businesses so they can be included in the redevelopment plan.

A.F. Evans envisions having anchor tenants at the corners of the new complex, Nadhiri said. Those might include a health and fitness center as well as a coffeehouse.

Those businesses could occupy anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, Nadhiri says. The remaining 5,000 to 15,000 square feet would be available to a mix of local and national tenants.

Harvey says he is skeptical this will allow enough affordable retail space for him and his neighbors.

“The only reason you have a tax base at all is because they stayed when everybody else left,” says Lynette Gibson McElhaney, executive director of Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services. “You have to make room for them.”

McElhaney’s nonprofit was a partner in Hometown Development Group Inc., one of the groups to bid on downtown redevelopment.

Both Hometown and the Olson Co., the third bidder on the redevelopment, sought out Stephen S. Woolery, former real estate director at Oakland’s Fruitvale Village.

“We wanted to find local businesses here in Richmond to be a part of (our development plans),” Woods says.

Developers thought Woolery could help, says Robert Kelley of Hometown.

“What we did was unorthodox by most people’s way of thinking,” Woolery says. “I spent six months before Fruitvale Village was completed out in the marketplace in that neighborhood.”

Subway and H&R Block are the only national franchises at the village.

Local entrepreneurs such as the owners of Powederface Coffee and Beignets were offered space over companies such as Starbucks.

“When local businesses lease space, it’s a vote of confidence for the redevelopment process,” Woolery says. “There is also a validation process when a national franchise says community demographics support having business in the downtown.”

Developers will not break ground in Richmond for another year, according to Wolken.

A.F. Evans will reach out to local businesses after they reach a development agreement with the city.

“It’s early for people to be hopeful,” Nadhiri says. “It’s too early for people to be disappointed.”

More in News

Monday, Feb. 19 Vehicle theft: A 2003 Ford E150 van was stolen overnight from Feb. 16-17 from the 1800 block of Arlington Boulevard. Warrant: A 32-year-old female from Richmond was arrested on a Marin County burglary warrant at Cutting Boulevard and San Pablo Avenue. Warrant: A 28-year-old transient man was arrested at the Lucky Supermarket at 1000 El Cerrito Plaza...